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Baradin Ironfist
Baradin Ironfist is a dwarf who hails from the Dwarven civilization of Hallmond. He is the son of a blacksmith and a former guild member and apprentice to a renowned craftsman. He specializes in crafting weapons and armor, as well as repairing them. These days, he travels between the kingdoms of Trepheon, seeking work as he makes his journey to ascend and make a name for himself and his creations. Appearance Baradin is a dwarf standing at 4'5, so he is rather short compared to a human. He has blond hair, with a short, stiff hairdo and a beard stretching over his face to accompany it. He dons a simple tunic over his work clothes, and a belt wrapping around his waist. He wears plain trousers and boots. Biography Early Life Baradin was a dwarf born to the smithing caste of a dwarven kingdom in Hallmond. His family was relatively well off, since his father was a somewhat skilled smith. From the moment he was able to talk he spent most of his free time by his father's forge, as it is customary to take up your father's craft. At the forge he simply observed his father and assisted him with what minor things he could simply handle. At the age of twelve, Baradin was a full fledged apprentice, working an anvil and hammer to make simple things such as nails and horseshoes. Baradin found himself enjoying fighting, as his hard physical labor had left him stronger than almost all of the others around him. They would bet some of the money that they earned from working and fight. His father knew about it, however he didn’t care as he felt that it was a good way for Baradin to get acquainted with the way the world was. As he aged the people that he bet and fought with called him “Ironfist”, as he had broken his knuckles fighting and his father had to help him heal by having small iron rods attached to small plates put into his hand. This set him back a year or so as his knuckles had to heal. As he continued to age he grew more knowledgeable of the craft, and therefore began to do some intermediate things. He repaired simple farming tools and built them as well. Apprenticeship At the age of 15, his father sent him to a renowned craftsman's guild in a town by the coast. There he would learn from some very experienced smiths and work to perfect his craft. He studied under one of his father’s friends who was regarded as one of the best in the guild. Almost all of Baradin’s time was spent relearning what his father had taught him, and what he had learned simply by experience. The smith insisted on such, as he believed that other smithing techniques were obsolete and wasteful. After he had relearned the craft the smith began to teach him how to smith weapons and armor. He would often supply Baradin with incredibly low quality materials, that of which he knew would almost always break or prone to flaws. For around two years he did this, often berating Baradin for the poor weapons and armor that were produced. This gave Baradin a severe inferiority complex, causing him to often become unhinged and break things out of sheer frustration. After some time, the smith replaced the materials Baradin was working with to some more adequate quality. His first weapon he forged with the new material was almost perfect compared to the other projects he had worked on. The master congratulated him on such work, and told him to continue on forging. At around the age of 33 Baradin was a surprisingly good smith for his age, near enough to surpass his father. The master, after almost two decades of work, sent Baradin off with the knowledge to continue his smithing. The smith had given him a large leatherbound book before he left, containing many different techniques that he himself used. To the present day, Baradin closely guards the book and has never let anyone but himself gaze upon it. Baradin returned home, where he had found his father in poor health. As was his duty, Baradin took up his father's work and began to support his family with the trade. At the age of 67, Baradin's father passed away from the ailment that plagued him. Although Baradin had never been around his father very much, he still held an incredibly strong connection to him. The death of his father sent him into a distraught state. He packed up what little belongings he had and left home, wishing to avoid the idea of his father's passing by occupying himself with the wonders of the world. An Eganian Journey Baradin traveled down to the coast of Hallmond, where he got a job working as a deckhand aboard a merchant vessel. The vessel traveled across the seas several times, taking him to places such as Ludwag, Southern Keleva, and Trepheon. This overall satisfied Baradin’s wish to travel, as he learned a fair amount on the journeys when he was not working. On one of the journeys the vessel was caught in the middle of a typhoon, being battered by heavy rains and waves for days. Finally, the vessel was struck with a large enough wave that it was sundered. Baradin and a few others managed to grasp at a binding rope of a rowboat that had been broken loose. Baradin and the others began to drift in the ocean. While drifting, Baradin and the others had no way of entertainment other than simply telling stories. One of the adrift sailors was a gnome named Xovyn. Baradin took a particular liking to him, as he was an engineer and had many interesting stories to tell. After drifting for around 2 days, the two other men could not take the dehydration and heat any longer. They partook of the salt water and soon became mad. Baradin took up one of the oars that was on the boat and was forced to beat one of them to death. The other was struck in the head and fell into the water unconscious, presumably drowning. Soon that afternoon, Baradin saw what appeared to be a land. Upon the spotting, they began frantically paddling towards the silhouette. It turned out to be a merchant vessel in the distance. The vessel picked them up. They were ecstatic to have been rescued and they were fed and given water. The vessel was traveling to Trepheon where the captain said they would be docking for a few days. He told them that they would be traveling back to Hallmond and that they could come along if they did some work on board. They declined, both having a past that they did not wish to confront there. The two began to travel down the roads, following alongside a river that they had happened upon. The river brought them to Holland originally. Upon entering the village, the two nearly collapsed from exhaustion. By chance, a kind hearted woodsman provided the two with enough food to sustain themselves for some time. When they regained a fair amount of their strength, they thanked the woodsman and went on their way. They soon scattered to the wind, wishing to avoid each other after the events while adrift. Baradin and Xovyn have not spoken to each other since, as time and the experience of being adrift together kept a ridge between the two. Baradin, now a well versed smith, travels through the castletowns looking for adventure and work. Though he is around 57 now, he still enjoys a free spirit and has worked to combat his age. He works to make something that will propel himself into the same highly regarded state as his master. Rune Studies Baradin found himself soon after quite engulfed in the study of runes, as he had encountered a few people wielding runes. He found as many books talking about runes as he possibly could, often paying large amounts of extra coin he had to have mercenaries scour ruins for texts. Most of that he found was fruitless as it all had very little information. With the small amounts of information, however, he began to piece together small amounts of information about runes. He found himself with the ability to start working on mundane runes as people wanted to inlay them into weapons. He began to use the runes and the knowledge he had scoured for to start attempting to inlay the runes into swords. Many of the first times he tried ended up in the destruction of the rune or simply did not work. After a few failures and angry customers, he began to study more the obscure information. After a good amount of time studying the information and laying down hypothesis he decided to attempt to try again - success! He managed to inlay the rune into a blade after some time working on it. He began to have more and more successes working inlaying the runes into blades and other things. After Tavius Marn, the king of the West, was killed he had the chance to place more powerful runes into blades. There were a few failures, but mostly success from the endeavor after which he didn't have much chance to work on runes. He decided to move on and explore Trepheon for more chances to work on runes. A month after he had left, the central castletown exploded and he heard rumors that it was due to runes, but as far as he could tell, it was just speculation or blind rumors. Soon after that, he encountered a man who had tracked him down by following a trail of he had apparently left. The man actually confirmed the rumor about the runes to him, saying that he saw a drow running with one himself. The mere idea that runes could do such damage to an area was shocking to Baradin, and he still hardly believes that it WAS a rune. The man claimed he had a book talking about runes and that he was willing to sell it to him as he had no need for it. Baradin jumped on the offer after taking a quick look through the book, giving him 25 moons of his hard earned pay. With that information he was able to piece together another large chunk of information pertaining to runes and how they were made and worked with.